2008
by Sikon
Summary: Continuation of the Aschen storyline. Set after Ark of Truth, during Atlantis season 4.
1. Act 1

_**Author's Note**_

_I'm writing this as an original flavor fic. No pairings. In fact, no hugging, no kissing. If this is what you're here for, you might as well stop reading right now. And, preferably, turn away from the Stargate franchise._

_This takes place after _The Ark of Truth_, during season 4 of Atlantis._

* * *

Previously on _Stargate SG-1..._

"'Under no circumstances go to P4C-970. Colonel Jack O'Neill.' This looks like your handwriting."

"The Aschen, sir. They're called the Aschen."

"They don't get excited in general, General. It's like an entire planet of accountants."

"You're offering a lot more than we asked for."

"Our motives are not entirely selfless. Perhaps you offer more than you give yourself credit for."

"Uh, you understand I have to, uh, present your offer to our leaders."

"You'll find we are a very _patient_ people, Ambassador. "

"The headline says something about a pandemic. Some sort of... I can't translate that, maybe fever. "

"Vaccine causes...what?"

"I don't know. But it caused something, because, in the span of two hundred years, the Volians went from an urban civilization of millions to an agrarian civilization of thousands. _After_ they were saved by the Aschen. "

"'Sterility.'"

"_Vaccine causes sterility_. That was the headline. You wiped out most of the Volian population and turned their entire world into farmland. You'd do the same to Earth."

"When they knew we were on... to them, they launched a bioweapon."

"I had to warn you, I... couldn't wait for the Ambassador. I'm sorry, sir."

"I just hope we don't regret giving them those gate addresses."

"I don't think we will. First one being a black hole, and all. They get progressively darker after that. "

**"2008"**

Daniel watched as the mysterious woman in shiny white clothes walked up the ramp, approaching the inactive Stargate while smiling enigmatically back at him. And then she dissolved, transforming into a cloud of energy, like ascended beings often did. The cloud then assumed the shape of a disc, filling the Stargate as if it was open.

He took a deep breath and stepped on the ramp himself, approaching the improvised wormhole...

"Daniel!" said a firm, commanding voice. Daniel turned around and saw Colonel Mitchell in the control room, looking at him from above. The scene then disappeared, and he found himself in his office lying on his table, on top of a heap of photos depicting wall inscriptions from P5G-438. "Daydreaming again?" continued Mitchell. "This is, what, the fifth time since —"

"Since Sam left last week," Daniel concluded. "But I think there's a pattern emerging now, I can _see_ it, elusive, out there," he stood up and started waving his hands, as he used to do when in a flow. "It's an ascended Ancient. She's trying to contact me, indirectly convey some message, no doubt related to what we have discovered rec—"

"What's with you and the female Ancients?" smiled Cam. "Oma Desala, Morgan, now this? Anyway, I've come to tell you that General Landry's calling us for a briefing."

"Unplanned briefing? Why?" asked Daniel.

"Something about Carolyn's findings on 438. She'll be at the briefing, too."

Daniel stood up, taking one of the pictures with him, and followed Mitchell out, looking onto the picture and bumping into people along the way to the elevator. Soon, it took them down, and they entered the briefing room.

General Landry, Teal'c, Vala and Dr. Lam were already sitting there.

"I'm afraid we have bad news," Carolyn began. "My colleagues and I have studied the longevity serum and some of the people of P5G-438. The good news is that the serum really does increase their lifespan and strengthen their immunity, similar to tretonin but without the need to take it regularly."

"And the bad news?" asked Vala, beating a rhythm on the table with her fingers.

"It has one unfortunate side effect: it irreversibly damages reproductive organs."

"On the inside or the outside?" Mitchell asked sarcastically.

"Both," replied Carolyn. "Those affected think their inability to conceive children is just bad luck, but they have really been sterilized. I have no idea how I'm going to tell them that."

"That sounds familiar..." remarked Daniel.

"Indeed," said Teal'c.

Vala looked at the two of them with curiosity. "Familiar? How?"

"I think he's talking about the Aschen," explained Mitchell. "That was before I joined SG-1, but I read in mission reports that the team encountered an alien race who, uh — "

"...posed as benefactors to less advanced cultures," finished Daniel. "They offered their technology, but in reality it was a way of slowly wiping them out by making them sterile and eventually extinct. We barely stopped them when they tried to do the same with Earth."

"But they are still out there?" asked Landry.

"Evidently. That, er, incident with their fleet four years ago — "

"Enough, Doctor Jackson," said the General. "I've read the reports as well, there's no need to repeat it all."

"This case, however, does not resemble the behavior the Aschen displayed on Volia," added Teal'c. "These people have received their medication from an unidentified party, while the Aschen operated in the open when we encountered them."

"Are we even sure it's them?" asked Mitchell. "For all we know, a Trust agent or a Goa'uld just happened to use the same tactic."

"Nevertheless," summed Landry, "as long as the Aschen are left on their own, they pose a threat to us and our allies. SG-1, I count on you to investigate this matter — it is your next mission."

"General!" said Daniel. "We can't just dial P4C-970 and walk into their midst. That's exactly what Jack was trying to prevent us from doing with that note."

"I said 'investigate', not 'rush into a trap'," smiled Landry. "The Aschen have a confederacy. You should start with fringe planets. And you have already been on Volia."

* * *

"Chevron seven locked!" announced Walter as SG-1, now in their field uniforms, looked into the window from behind. The Stargate opened, and the MALP standing ready rolled up the ramp and into the wormhole. "We're getting a signal," he continued, turning on video feed. For a couple of seconds, an image of a blue sky with clouds appeared on the monitor, but then it immediately turned into static.

Teal'c cast an inquiring look at the Sergeant, raising an eyebrow.

"I, er, I think the target Stargate is lying on the ground, so the MALP fell back into it and was destroyed," said Walter.

"Okay, this may be a problem," Cam noted. "We'll have to climb out at the very least, and I can't really say I'm looking forwa—"

"This won't be needed, Colonel," assured Landry. "I've asked the Alpha Site to give you a more efficient means of transportation. Walter, dial P4X-650."

"Yes, Sir."

"SG-1, to the gate room," ordered the General.

As the Stargate opened again, the four explorers walked into it, side to side... and after exiting it, found themselves looking at a small vessel with an all-too-familiar design.

"Puddle jumper?" Mitchell exclaimed.

"A gift from Atlantis," said Colonel Pierce, approaching them. "Except we checked, and none of us here at the base have that Ancient gene to pilot it — I'm not sure about you, though."

Cam, Daniel and Teal'c turned to Vala.

"Uh... w-what?" she said. "It's not my fault that— "

"Maybe," answered Mitchell. "But it's not our fault either that back in Atlantis, you were the only one who thought gene therapy was cool and something to brag about. If you don't want to fly this thing, well, there's always climbing..."

"No! Anything but that!" protested Vala.

"Or we could dial 970, right now. 'Come take us, Aschen, here we are!'"

Vala sighed...

* * *

"Commander!" exclaimed a man in a very old-fashioned uniform, walking into a dimly-lit room looking like a makeshift command center. "Strange ship, flying this way! Doesn't look like Aschen technology, and it comes from where we buried the Stargate..."

"You didn't bury it well enough, it seems," the commander said grimly. "Wait for the ship to land, then bring the crew here. Aschen or not, they may still be in league with them."

He turned around, revealing who he was: Earth's former ambassador to Volia. Joe Faxon.

_To be continued..._


	2. Act 2

The puddle jumper flew over the vast expanses of crop fields and orderly forest plantations, although with the pilot being who she was, the flight was far from safe. The ship constantly tool wild turns seemingly against Vala's will, or at times suddenly nosedived; when it nearly blew off the top of a pine tree, Vala screamed and almost fell out of her seat, Cam and Daniel were thrown across the main hold, and only Teal'c, who providently fastened his seatbelt, continued looking through the windshield with little emotional reaction beyond raising an eyebrow.

"We're getting close," Mitchell announced, walking to Vala and pointing at the life signs detector he has been holding. "I get readings from that hill over there. I don't see much besides grass and rocks there, so the living things must be underground, whatever they are."

"Vala, please, just try not to —" began Daniel, just as the jumper came to a sudden stop in midair, thrusting everyone forward, and slowly, smoothly folded in its engines and landed on the ground. "...crash it," Jackson finished with relief.

Outside, a pair of arms threw off a cover disguised as a patch of dirt, revealing a sloppy makeshift passage that looked like it was going to cave in at any moment. A dozen men armed with crossbows (although two of them instead had rifles roughly of 1910s design) emerged out of the tunnel and surrounded the ship.

The ship's door opened, and the SG-1 members walked out, sticking close to each other. Mitchell held a P-90 ready, shifting his aim from one native to another, while the other three carried zats.

They stood like this for a few seconds; then, suddenly, Daniel lightened up and lowered his weapon. "Let me get this straight," he said, facing the guard who looked the toughest. "You drew out the Aschen with nothing but this?"

"Drew out the Aschen?" asked Mitchell.

"They are the Volians, natives of this planet. Simple farmers. Last time we met them, an Aschen harvester—"

"Doctor Jackson? Teal'c?" interrupted a voice coming from the entrance to the tunnel.

All four turned in the direction of the voice. Faxon himself stood there, smiling. He had changed quite a lot since SG-1 lost him on Volia seven years ago; along the most pronounced features he now sported were a scar on his face and uncombed hair, along with a moustache and beard more suitable for a village elder than a diplomatic emissary. His official suit and well-kept shoes were also gone, replaced with a crude military uniform and tattered high boots.

"Okay, _this_ explains a lot," noted Daniel.

"Step away from them," Faxon ordered to the guards, meanwhile walking closer to SG-1. He looked at all four, and suddenly his face became concerned. "Where is Major Carter?"

"_Colonel_ Carter is not here," said Mitchell, slightly annoyed. "More precisely, she's in a galaxy far, far away. I thought you'd be more concerned with other questions..."

"Like what? You and the woman, whom I never met? I just presume you wouldn't wear SG-1 badges if you weren't trustworthy. Oh, and Teal'c, nice hair! You and Doctor Jackson have become sort of, er, heroes among the Volians, after you found that underground city. They scavenged quite a lot of lost tech from there."

Vala, knocking on the jumper's hull out of boredom, tried to reproduce Teal'c's eyebrow raise, to an abysmal result. Fortunately, nobody looked at her.

"So this is how you drove out the Aschen?" asked Daniel.

"Well, not _exactly..._" the Ambassador stumbled. "And don't just stand here, come in!"

The explorers followed Faxon back to the tunnel entrance; Teal'c, however, first went back into the jumper, lifted a naquadah generator lying there, and then, carrying it, caught up with the others. As they went through the damp and dimly-lit passage, which suspiciously resembled a villager's cellar with its stench, Faxon continued.

"They just left. The news about the lost city and the Aschen's betrayal spread quickly, but nobody really thought of fighting them, that would be suicidal. Then they just pulled out in their ships, and we buried the Stargate, just in case."

"You buried it incorrectly," noted Teal'c.

"Yes, thanks, we figured. But that's not the end of the story. So, for about four years, we didn't know what happened to the Aschen, or to other planets in the Confederacy, or even Earth. And then an Aschen ship crash-landed around here. Not much left of it, but the crew survived, and they were not Aschen."

"How could you be sure?" asked Mitchell skeptically.

Just at that point, they walked into the command center — as much as it could be called that. Its furniture mostly consisted of wooden chairs and tables, the latter of which were covered with pieces of paper, including a map of the area covering the largest table in the middle. On The walls were stacked with crude shovels, crowbars and other tools; in the corner opposite to the one from which the travelers entered, two workers were digging a new corridor. The man who had informed Faxon about the approaching jumper was now sitting in front of a radio, which looked way too advanced for everything else in the room.

"Believe me, they're easy to tell apart," assured Joe. "The Aschen are, like... humans, but with everything human drained out of them. These were not Aschen. They said they were from the planet Comoefo... or, on second thought, their leader is right here, so he can put it better than I. And yes, I'm taking about you, Athe," he poked the radio operator, "stand up and greet my countrymen already! And tell them about how you stole that ship and got here."

"Excuse me," said Daniel. "Last time Teal'c and I were here, we found a newspaper in the city — that's how we learned what the Aschen did to the Volian civilization, in fact. Any chance I can have a look at it again?"

"Everything of interest we found in the city, we brought here," said Faxon. "Newspapers, too. The natives couldn't translate them, maybe you'll have better luck."

"Where are they?"

"Library room, third turn to the right back in the corridor we just passed."

Without any more words, Jackson headed out.

* * *

Straightening the paper, Daniel leant over it, trying to discern half-erased letters in a barely familiar script. In an attempt to grab the dim kerosene lamp standing on the table, which had just went even dimmer, he accidentally knocked it over and spilled the kerosene onto the moist floor; the lamp went out, and darkness encompassed the room.

And then, behind him, it lit up again — but with a different, white light.

_It was just an excuse to be left alone, was it not?_

Daniel stood up and turned around. It was the woman from his dream; as it was customary for ascended beings, her features were distorted in the surrounding light and the shape remained only vaguely humanoid, and even the face was hard to see.

"Uhm... Actually, no," said Daniel defensively, folding his arms and leaning a bit back. "I was just going to stick to my job and leave planning to— Who are you, anyway?"

_I am Melia, one of those of the last Atlantean Council. I am here because I am one of the few among my people who did not grow too detached from the lower plane of existence. And you, whose name means "God is my judge," I was chosen as a messenger of the Others, to declare their judgment — on you and your kind._

"So you're an Ancient?"

_I am a Lantean. Do you call Americans British?_

"Uhm..." Daniel stuttered. "While I get your point, I didn't expect such a... er... departure from your holier-than-thou beginning."

Melia smiled enigmatically. _I remember the first time I was touched by your manners — ten __thousand years ago, when Elizabeth Weir walked the floors of Atlantis, being in her very essence so very different to what we were used to. And her defiant words imprinted in me, as they did in Moros, the one you know as Merlin. That was the first time we doubted the wisdom of our non-intervention — yet were afraid to act._

"And now you suddenly aren't?" Daniel asked spitefully. "That's what you came here for — to join us against the Aschen, to go to their world and unleash a virus on them or something?"

_No. I have come to stop you._

"Or that. Could have seen it coming."

_I have reasons to protect the existence of the Aschen — and if there were living Lanteans here beside us, they would wholly support me._

"What? How?!" Daniel exclaimed, taking a step back.

_To be continued..._


	3. Act 3

_**Author's Notes**_

_Melia is a character from the Atlantis episode "Before I Sleep", which, indeed, involved Elizabeth Weir "walking the floors of Atlantis" ten thousand years ago. She also appeared as a hologram in "Rising". I try to keep Atlantis references to a minimum, but there'll be a reference to an even more obscure Stargate source, because I'm evil like that._

* * *

"I... I don't understand, I thought you didn't interfere..." said Daniel. "I mean, you all let Anubis roam free, and now you're suddenly going to step in for just another human culture?"

Melia made a step in Daniel's direction and cast a piercing look on him. _Many things have changed since then, _she said. _We saw how you handled the Ori — and for the first time in millennia, we suddenly felt insecure. We ignored you because we believed you posed no threat to the ascended realm; now we saw that you did. And the consequences soon followed._

"What consequences?"

_As much as they don't want to admit it, the Others believe you did them a favor. But we have held, ever since the dawn of our history, that the ends do not justify the means. You not only used a weapon we chose not to, you kept it after it served its purpose._

"It wasn't my decision," protested Daniel, picking the kerosene lamp from the floor and going to refuel it. "I wanted the Ark to be destroyed. The higher-ups weren't amused."

_So you obey your authorities, even when you disagree with their rulings. We do the same. The Others' mindsets are changing, slowly, but they are; for now, we have to comply. But among the first revisions of their policy, it was declared that Earthans are now forbidden to ascend. This is, ultimately, what I have come to tell you: do not expect to cheat death a third time._

"But why?" exclaimed Daniel. "This doesn't really help your cause. You are in a position of relative safety, emphasis on 'relative', and now you refuse to share your power. Don't you think this makes you no better than the Ori?"

_Ascension is open to all races seeking it; just not yours, any longer. You are reckless. At our time, we Lanteans were peaceful explorers, admiring the wonders of the universe and seeding it with life. And you bring nothing but death. You destroy ancient civilizations, unique cultures, whenever you think they pose a threat to you. You disrupt established orders, you meddle in affairs where your presence was never requested, and you scavenge technology beyond your understanding — mostly ours. To use your own language, you are no better than the Goa'uld._

"The Ori are worse than the Goa'uld!"

Melia smiled again — this time, apparently, out of genuine amusement. _Tenacious as ever, Daniel Jackson. Now, I have given you a warning. You are not just hopelessly persistent, you are also ignorant. You were wrong: the Aschen are not 'just' another human culture. Abandon your campaign. Otherwise, I will help them stop you._

"And get descended faster than you can blink," Daniel smiled in return.

_Even powerless, I could stop you with just three words. Three. I am not doing it right now because I want to give you a chance._

* * *

"...And then, the prisoners told us that the Aschen home planet was destroyed by a black hole," Athe continued, as Mitchell kept gazing at him with a skeptical and slightly annoyed look.

"We think they tried one of the Stargate addresses Sam and I gave them," explained Faxon.

"They had plenty of time to evacuate, though," said Athe. "They flew to Ingwoa, rebuilt there."

"What treatment did you subject the prisoners to?" inquired Teal'c.

"We, uh, just left them behind. Who knows, if we brought them to the ship we stole from them... who knows... they could have wrestled the controls back somehow."

"What were you trying to accomplish?" asked Teal'c.

"Spread the word. When we found out what the Aschen were really doing, we tried to warn other planets — but they blocked the Stargate, and after we took another option, we ironically landed on a planet that already knew about the sterility thing. And we crashed the ship, to boot."

"With your ship, on the other hand..." proposed Joe.

"No!" exclaimed Mitchell. "Denied. We need it ourselves for a recon mission. Why didn't you use the Stargate from here, anyway?"

"No DHD. The Aschen took it."

"Just that? Seriously?" Vala livened up. "Believe it or not, this is where we come to the rescue."

"But before that," said Cam, "did you happen to bring any Aschen clothes on that ship? We could use two sets..."

* * *

"Three, two, one — pull!" Mitchell ordered. The crowd, standing there holding the ropes tied to the Stargate, pulled them all at once; with effort, they made it standing, and Teal'c and several Volians started propping it up with stone blocks. Meanwhile, Daniel stepped out of the nearby forest; seeing what was going on, he ran to the Stargate and grabbed one of the ropes, joining the effort.

"Now, release," said Mitchell after Teal'c's group was finished, and everyone let go of the ropes.

"Ah, good old-fashioned way," commented Daniel. "That's what they actually used in Giza — I saw the photos."

"Have you found any important information in the newspapers, Daniel Jackson?" asked Teal'c.

"Uh... n-no, not really. Except for that sterility headline, just average everyday news. It did give me some practice in the Aschen language, and that's really what—"

"Now," said Mitchell, not listening. "Daniel, help Teal'c connect the naquadah generator. Joe, Athe, prepare your messengers, one for each planet on the list."

Daniel and Teal'c carried the generator to the opposite side of the Stargate and tinkered with it for a few minutes, then signaled they were ready. And suddenly...

...the chevrons began to light up.

"Everyone! Take aim!!" Mitchell shouted immediately, pointing his P-90 at the gate. The rest of SG-1 followed suit, along with those Volians whom they had armed with spare weapons from the jumper. The Stargate opened; Mitchell stared at it, breathing heavily, for about thirty seconds; but nothing came through, and it closed again, just as suddenly.

"Cam," said Daniel in a worried, doubtful tone. "I hate to say this, but... I think it might be related, er, to what I just... I mean, I think we have to abandon this missi— Cam?" Mitchell didn't listen. He just headed to the jumper, waving to the rest of SG-1 to follow. Upon entering the ship, Daniel and Teal'c remained in the back, while Vala went straight to the controls.

She looked at the dialing panel for a second, then at the scrap of paper with a list of addresses written on it, then pressed a button. Outside, one of the chevrons on the Stargate lit up.

"Chevron one encoded," announced Vala in a put-on serious tone, trying not to crack up.

"You know, Vala," said Cam, "I think you've beaten this particular dead horse so much that it will soon come back as a zombie horse and tear your limbs off, just so it can rest in peace undisturbed."

"All right, all right." She pressed the remaining six buttons in silence; as the gate opened, one of the Volians standing just beside it, all wearing red armbands, went in.

"Next!"

* * *

It was a bright, sunny day — as always — in the city of Gahran, the new capital of the Aschen. Ingwoa, known as P9F-404 to the SGC, was previously of little interest to the inhabitants of Aschen Prime, as an uninhabited world infamous for its rapid climate oscillations between arid and overly moist, making it unsuitable for agriculture. Now, however, thanks to their efficient Weather Service, the Aschen adjusted the conditions to those they were used to on their former homeworld. Now they hardly saw any clouds over the course of a few years, much less rain.

And it was good.

To the Aschen, anyway. Stability was the norm of their life.

The city was divided into six identical, highly regular sections, themselves hexagonal in shape. When viewed from a landing aircraft's height, it looked like a six-petaled white flower lying on the boundless greenness of the surrounding grassland.

Aschen architecture was strictly utilitarian, but charming in its simplicity. Most of the buildings were white, with large windows and transparent floors, and this was not an artistic decision — it was done mostly to minimize lighting costs. Between them were clean wide streets and spacious grey squares with teleporters providing instant access to any part of the city — and those were so clean that they would make the finest Earth hospitals seem like village dumps.

In the center of the city, where all six sections met, stood a hexagonal skyscraper thinning out at the top, like an obelisk, at the ground floor of which was a terminal housing the Stargate itself, as well as the DHD, just in front of it. There wasn't any activity there today, though, apart from a few guards displaying signs of indifference rather than boredom; the six glass doors serving as exits were all closed, with electronic signs reading "Scheduled Maintenance" on them.

And at the very top, there was a room with a round table, with six Aschen — three male and three female — sitting at it. However, as they wore the same identical grey clothes as the people on the streets, a stranger would not be able to discern by their outlooks whether they actually held any sort of power.

"...and on this, I suggest closing the current meeting of the Directory," said one of them. "Any objections?" Nobody moved. "Unilateral."

As they were standing up, however, the loudspeaker on the ceiling activated. "Sorry to interrupt," it said in a serene voice, "there is unscheduled activity in the gate room. An unidentified ship appeared out of the Stargate and left... uh... through the wall. Your orders?"

The one who suggested closing the meeting moved his hands, apparently preparing to say something, but he was interrupted. A sudden flash blinded all six for a few seconds; when their sight returned, they saw a naked woman standing on the table — and remained unmoved, displaying no more reaction than if she was a lamp that has always stood there. Even the men.

Meanwhile, Melia — of course it was her — jumped off the table, apparently filling with excitement. "Breathing! Heart beating!" she exclaimed. "I almost forgot how it felt. And you, what are you standing here for? There are intruders!"

"In this case, what would be your advised course of action?" asked another one of the six, slightly offended.

"_Conceal the gate._"


	4. Act 4

_**Author's Notes**_

_It isn't really explained how the "translation system" in Stargate works. We're obviously meant to assume that the aliens don't "really" speak English (that would be stupid), but how what we see is different from how communication "really" goes on is left to imagination._

_I like to think that the system substitutes a word into its closest equivalent in the target language — similar to the way we use the word "philosophy" for the teachings of famous Chinese like Lao Tze and Confucius despite the Greek roots of this word. Thor in Stargate is called such because that's what the mythological Thor is called in modern English, and the ancient Scandinavians would call the alien Thor (if they hypothetically could talk to him) by their name for the god._

_Therefore, the Translator Microbes(tm) favor the word "Directory" because it thinks that's what describes the Aschen executive council the best. And as a bonus, if you read the Wikipedia article on the historical French Directory, it gives a clue to the origin of the Aschen as planned in this story — assuming you haven't figured it out already._

* * *

Teal'c and Cameron went closer to the cockpit, where Vala and Daniel were sitting. All four were now wearing grey Aschen clothes.

"That's deep..." muttered Mitchell, looking at the Stargate sinking into the floor. "So Vala, got any more dumb ideas? Maybe we can drill through the ground? Or Daniel can ascend and pull it out with his awesome powers? Or maybe we could surrender and politely ask the Aschen to let us pass?"

"Actually, this sounds— " began Daniel, but Mitchell interrupted him. "It's not a suggestion. Being bored to death is my least favorite kind of torture, thank you."

"Hey, I didn't know!" Vala exclaimed defensively, flying the ship over the streets farther away from the terminal.

"Oh, of course you didn't!" said Cameron mockingly. "'No worries, it's a simple recon mission! We'll just fly there and back!' And now we're stuck here. Four of us, with one jumper — we're expected to help the uprising how?"

"We aren't expected to! We're just expected to make it out of here alive!"

"The Aschen are not trying to stop us," noted Teal'c. "If attacking was their intention, their technology would have allowed them to deploy considerable forces here already."

"Well, what _do_ they intend?" Vala asked impulsively.

* * *

"Their ship has no weapons," said Melia, jumping off the table and walking towards the nearest teleporter in the room, still naked. "Therefore, surrendering is their only option."

"We shall kill them," said the presiding Aschen.

"Oh, no, you don't! I'd do this myself when I had the power, if I really wanted to. I let them live in the first place because I hope to resolve this peacefully, while I still can."

"Excuse me, but—"

Melia stepped onto the transporter platform and put her hand on the touchpad. In a moment, she and that one Aschen were teleported into a small square room whose walls were entirely covered by control panels of the sleek, simplified designs the Aschen were known for.

"But the Directory is in charge, not me," Melia finished for him. "I know this, Wossan, and I know more about your society than you realize."

"You..." Wossan stuttered, then touched his mouth in slight surprise, as if what he had just said was unexpected even for him. "You have the TTU gene, yet you are showing _deviant behavior_. Who are you?"

"A non-Aschen... strictly speaking. And it's not called the TTU gene. Now shut up and watch while I'm tracking them."

* * *

As the puddle jumper was flying towards an inactive screen, attached to a pole in the middle of yet another city square, the screen suddenly turned on. However, the people on the streets almost completely ignored both the screen and the jumper itself.

A single teal-colored string of unintelligible glyphs, probably letters, appeared on the screen. Teal'c looked at Daniel questioningly.

"Uhm... one moment..." said the linguist. "Two letters, followed by the digit one. If that's 'SG-1'... then that word in the end would be 'to exit'... 'SG-1, land... here and'... uhm... Ah, yes, makes sense. 'SG-1, land here and leave the ship right away'."

"Over my dead body," said Mitchell.

"They call us SG-1... interesting." replied Daniel.

As they flew past the screen, the ship's communicator started speaking. "That was an order," it said in Melia's voice, softly but threateningly. Daniel, recognizing the voice, made an involuntary arm movement and hit a crate with his elbow.

"You're not among those I take orders from," Mitchell said angrily.

"First things first, Melia," said Daniel, coming to his senses. "You have descended."

"Yes."

"Because the Others would stop you otherwise."

"Yes."

"Huh? An Ancient, since when?" asked Vala, turning to Daniel for a few seconds, which nearly resulted in the ship crashing into the next building on the way. Vala desperately steered all the way to the right, barely dodging it.

"But why the Aschen of all people? As much as I hate to admit it, we've disrupted established orders in the past, and you chose this particular moment to intervene. Why?"

"I thought you would have found out before, Daniel Jackson. Apparently, I overestimated you," said Melia.

"Excuse me," intervened Mitchell, who was visibly growing annoyed by this conversation, "but what's with all the vagueness? Does it come as a racial feature?"

"You Earthans are far too reckless. Ganos Lal—"

"Morgan Le Fay trusted my judgment, Melia," said Daniel. "You should too."

For a good thirty seconds, the communicator remained silent. Only the sound of the engines was heard, besides the sounds of Vala frantically bashing the controls.

"You assume too much," Melia said at last, in a quiet voice with undertones of sorrow. Then the signal vanished.

* * *

Melia turned away from the console. Wossan, for some reason, had already left the control room. She took the transporter back to the Directory meeting room. Four of the six Directors had now left, with only two remaining: Wossan and a blonde woman with a sharp haircut. In addition, the room now featured guards armed with handguns, two of whom immediately grabbed the Lantean's arms and bent them behind her back.

"Before you start performing your experients on me," Melia said calmly, "I should point out that I know all about their tactics, not to mention the impending anti-Aschen uprisings on colony worlds, and can minimise the inconvenience costs."

"Release her," ordered Wossan. The guards let go of her arms and stepped away.

"You should at least get dressed," suggested the female Director.

"Why. Jakase?" asked Melia.

"Your current lack of attire is nonconformist."

"Oh, _please!_ I am Councillor Melia of the Atlantis Council, from the planet Lantea in the Pegasus galaxy. I'm ten thousand years old, and I've spent most of my life as an energy being on a higher plane of existence, witnessing secrets of the universe whose very existence would drive you mad — and you expect me to conform to the ridiculous living standards you Aschen have secluded yourselves in to disguise your lack of cultural identity?"

Throughout this little rant, which used the full range of facial expressions Melia was capable of, she waved her arms energetically. The Directors were visibly touched — more so than Aschen would be expected to, at least. Wossan rolled his eyes, and Jakase raised both eyebrows and opened her mouth for a second.

"You wasted more time on this speech than you would spend actually getting dressed," Wossan pointed out.

"Fine. I'll get one of your unimaginative uniforms. I'm feeling a bit cold anyway. The emotional overload must be wearing off."

* * *

"We should act in the way the enemy least expects," suggested Teal'c.

"You could all shut up for a minute and let me concentrate, that's what _I_ least expect right now!" complained Vala.

"Wait, wait, wait," said Daniel. The sign on that building over there says 'Library'. We could—"

"No," said Mitchell sharply.

"But if we—"

"No. Nothing that's not directly related to getting out of here, and fast."

"Hey, nobody said about getting out fast!" exclaimed Vala. "If you wanted fast, I'd just fly up. Into space."

"Daniel Jackson is right," said Teal'c. "Knowing one's enemy is a necessary component of victory, and our knowledge of the Aschen is severely limited."

"Plus we could find out why Melia is on their side," added Daniel.

"Because she's a self-righteous jerk with a grudge against us?" theorized Vala.

"Well, as much as she taints Ancients and oxygen-users in general by association, which is to be expected of one of the Others, I'd say there must still be a reason—"

"Enough," said Mitchell. "Daniel and I will get into that library. Vala, stay here and put the ship in stealth mode."

"How in the world do I do that?" asked Vala.

"Figure it out. If Sheppard is smart enough to do it, then so are you. And stay in the ship. Teal'c, stay with her."

Teal'c nodded.

"No offense," Mitchell continued, "but your Jaffa mark will stand out and I don't see any of them wearing hats, so that's out of question too."

The jumper disappeared. As before, none of the Aschen around paid any attention. A few minutes later, Cameron emerged out of thin air in a quiet, seemingly deserted yard adjacent to the library. Daniel followed; he was now without his glasses.

"So what now?" asked Daniel. "We just waltz in through the front door?"

A small service door right next to them opened, and a guard walked out of it. His handgun — teal and white in color, more resembling a pistol-shaped spray nozzle than a weapon — was attached to his belt, and he was carrying a small rectangular device no bigger than a lighter in his hand.

"I thought not."

_To be continued..._

* * *

_Yes, there was a Star Wars reference in there. Out of all Star Wars movies I could reference, you didn't expect that one, did you?_


	5. Act 5

The guard walked past Cameron and Daniel, paying little attention to them besides a momentary glance. Daniel sighed with relief. However, when the guard almost disappeared behind a corner, Mitchell suddenly took out a zat concealed in his Aschen shirt. Seeing this, Daniel, with a horrified look on his face, pushed him, and he missed.

The guard, however, reacted strangely to the shot. He covered his ears for a second, even though the sound of the zat wasn't particularly loud, then turned around and fired at Mitchell from his handgun. Daniel jumped in the way, took the shot and collapsed on the ground; meanwhile, Mitchell tried to zat the guard again, this time successfully.

"Daniel!" he exclaimed.

"I feel... sleepy..." murmured Jackson, moving his fingers a bit before he went completely numb. Cameron touched his chest; he was clearly still breathing.

"Teal'c, you still here?" Mitchell said in the communicator. "Take this one!"

Teal'c's black arms appeared out of the air, grabbed the guard's legs and pulled him into the invisible jumper. Mitchell himself dragged in Daniel. Inside the ship, Vala looked back from her pilot seat and, upon seeing the device, grinned and asked:

"What's this, some kind of Aschen thing-we-don't-know-what-it-does? Press some button, I want to see what happens."

"I am more concerned about Daniel Jackson's health," said Teal'c.

"Oh, come on, Muscles, he's been worse!" said Vala. When Mitchell leant over Daniel, putting the device aside, she stood up and pressed the only button on it...

Suddenly, Daniel's eyes opened, and he rapidly lifted his upper body, assuming a sitting position. "Wooh..." he said drowsily. "That gun must be a tran... quilizer. I... thought of it... in my... sleep..." He looked around, noticed the guard lying beside him, and began to speak quickly. "Waitaminutewhyhasn'thestillgotuphowlongwasIlying here anyway?"

"Two minutes, tops," said Mitchell. "Still want to explore the library?"

"I was just getting to that..."

"I'll take this gun. It's smaller than a zat, and... less noisy. Plus the remote-thing seems to reverse its effects. Teal'c, I'm leaving the guy to you. If he's uncooperative, just do something really loud, he doesn't like it."

Teal'c nodded.

As soon as Cameron and Daniel left the ship again, Vala — noticing that the guard began to get up — wrapped her arms around his waist and passionately kissed him. Teal'c immediately drew out his zat and pointed it at the guard, who stared at Vala with his eyes opened slightly wider than before.

"Where am I?" he asked monotonously.

"Ehh..." sighed Vala. "I expected more reaction." She touched his crotch and added, "Much more reaction..."

* * *

**Three days later...**

"Unscheduled off-world activation!" announced Walter as the iris closed and the siren turned on. Landry rushed downstairs, putting on his USAF jacket on the fly.

"We're receiving a signal, Sir. It's SG-1's code."

"Open the iris," ordered the General.

The Stargate's exit cleared, and Joe Faxon — now dressed in a spare SG-1 uniform — stepped out of it onto the ramp. The guards in the gate room synchronously took aim ait him.

"No! Don't shoot!" Walter shouted over the loudspeaker. "Sir, I recognize this man," he explained, but stopped when he saw Landry heading straight for the gate room. Once there, the General dismissed the guards with a gesture and approached Faxon, just as the Stargate closed behind him.

"Ambassador Faxon, I'm glad to see you alive. You were presumed dead for all these years..."

"The Aschen aren't an overly violent race," Joe said. "I don't think they'd kill anybody out of spi— General Landry, I presume? Colonel Mitchell told me you were on good terms, although to be frank, I'll miss General Hamm—"

"Where's SG-1?" interrupted Landry.

"Went to the Aschen capital world. Didn't return. We tried gating to the planet, but it just won't connect..."

"'We'? Who are the 'we'?"

"Anti-Aschen rebellion. SG-1 stirred things up, we've even captured a few Aschen ships — unfortunately, nobody can fly them."

"We'll send specialists on alien spacecraft along with more SG teams, then organize a rescue mission," assured the General. "Anything else?"

"A spare DHD to Volia—"

"Consider it done."

"General," said Faxon more quietly, heading for the exit from the gate room. "I wish you best luck in finding SG-1 and fighting the Aschen... and I have one more request of a personal kind."

"You're welcome," said Landry, catching up with him down the corridor.

"I'd like to join the Atlantis expedition."

"Why?" the Genral asked amusedly, stopping.

"To repay my debt to Colonel Carter. For what she did in the last mission to Volia..."

"Ambassador," Landry said sharply, reaching and pressing the elevator button. "I understand your feelings on this matter... I've read and re-read her reports and I know what was bleeding through their dry formal language. But Atlantis is not under my jurisdiction, and I doubt the IOA would be as convinced by your arguments as I am."

"IOA?"

"You don't want to know. If you have a private message to Colonel Carter, just write it encrypted, and we'll deliver it the next time we use the gate bridge. You will be needed on the _Odyssey_ for the rescue mission."

"_Odyssey_?" asked the Ambassador, entering the elevator.

"You'll know soon."

* * *

Dusk had come.

In this particular timezone on the planet, that is.

The puddle jumper was parked near a beautiful, tranquil forest lake. Mitchell, Vala, Teal'c and the captive Aschen guard were sitting on the grass around a bonfire, eating griled meat. Daniel was sitting apart from the others, periodically touching the screen of a tablet device, obviously of Aschen design — like a PDA, but larger and sleeker.

"Enjoying the meal, Deschar?" Vala asked playfully.

"Enjoying?" repeated the guard. "Do I look enjoyed to you?!" he suddenly exploded. "You keep me in this wilderness, with unsterilized food! I haven't undergone disinfection for three days! How do you cope?!"

"Ooh, he's showing teeth," smiled Vala.

"Come on," said Mitchell, "this is the natural habitat of SG teams. Rocks and trees, and trees and rocks..."

"And wofew!" added Vala, chopping off another bite.

"And water," agreed the Colonel.

"In addition, the amount of fish in the pond would have satisfied O'Neill," said Teal'c.

Suddenly, Daniel put the tablet aside and said, "I got it!"

"Please tell me you found records of a spare Stargate," said Mitchell.

"No... The library didn't have much about this world, makes sense given that the Aschen only, uh, settled here recently. I wasn't trying to get us off the planet. However, I think found something about the origin of the Aschen..."

"Oh, how typical," groaned Cam.

"Share your discovery, Daniel Jackson," requested Teal'c.

"The historical records only go as far as about nine thousand BC, I couldn't get any farther. But I also looked through the, uh, legends of old. Most of them are clearly ridiculous, but one captured my attention..."

He got closer to the others and showed them the tablet. "It states that the first Aschen rose from the sea in a shining bubble. On this, uh, ancient picture of the bubble, this is clearly a ZPM. I think they lived in a submersible city, much like Atlantis, except I don't know if it was a city-ship..."

Daniel left the tablet on the ground and went into the puddle jumper for a moment, then returned with an inactive life signs detector. "Touch this, please," he said to Deschar. The guard touched it, and its screen immediately turned on.

"See?" Daniel said triumphantly. "He has the ATA gene. The Aschen are Ancients — all of them. A whole planet of living Ancients... if you call it life."

"But didn't the Ancients leave the galaxy in Atlantis?" asked Mitchell.

"Most of those who survived by then, yes. They became the Lanteans, people like Merlin, and Morgan... and Melia. But some remained here and reseeded life in the galaxy with the Dakara weapon. That would explain why the Aschen architecture is so reminesc—"

"The Aschen don't exactly strike me as a million-year-old race," protested Mitchell. "I mean, they're pretty advanced... but not nearly to the level of Atlantis. Or even the Asgard..."

"That's a mystery to me," admitted Daniel, walking around in a circle. "But I think I now know why Melia wanted to stop us. She should know the answer, and how they lost their emotions."

He stopped just short of accidentally stepping into the lake.

"Maybe if I—"

Daniel didn't finish. He was instantly beamed away. The rest of SG-1 stared for a few more seconds at the point where he had just stood, then exchanged confused looks.

_To be concluded..._


	6. Act 6

_Honestly, I found out can't cram everything I've planned into an episode-long story, so I'll just continue writing until the resolution. Sorry for such a long delay._

**ACT 6**

Daniel blinked, letting his eyes recover from the flash, and looked around to see where he ended up.

He was in a spacious but lightly-furnished room, overall resembling the interiors of Atlantis: grey, with high-tech-looking parts sticking out of the walls here and there. A large screen was mounted into the wall to his left, with a similarly grey sofa in front of it. Right next to him stood a small transparent table; on top of it was an equally transparent plate of differently-colored pills and a glass of water. The wall in front of him was not as much of a wall as a wall-sized four-sectioned window kept in near-perfect cleanliness. Through the window, Daniel could see the city of the Aschen, lit by a sunset.

Suddenly, he heard Melia's voice, coming from behind, sounding serious and melancholic. "Don't drink the water. I forgot why."

Daniel turned around. Melia stood there, wearing a standard issue bluish-grey Aschen shirt and trousers. She was tinkering with a floor-mounted device that was clearly an Aschen transporter — except some of the panels of its casing were removed, and Melia was reaching inside it with a weird-shaped tool looking like a cross between a small hammer and a screwdriver.

The wall behind her visibly contrasted with the other walls, full of hasty, incoherent writing in Ancient. Daniel glanced at the section of the scripture that seemed to have been made in the greatest hurry.

_You are Melia, you wrote this  
Atlantis Lantea Pegasus SG-1 Earth Sleepers  
Latch onto your memories  
Dream_

"Uh, what the — " started Daniel, but was immediately interrupted as Melia unexpectedly jumped back.

"No, no, no!" she exclaimed. "I'm losing them, I'm losing them!" She pointed at the wall to Daniel's right, "Press that button now! On the left side, right under the line! Quick!"

"Who, me?"

"No, me," Melia said sarcastically, irritated, as she pressed and held down two buttons on the transporter at once. "Because I secretly have an extendable arm to reach it with. Press it now, or they'll die!"

Daniel jumped to the wall and held down the button. He looked at the transporter with wild eyes, but nothing visible happened, only the lights on its front panel slightly changed positions. Melia released the buttons and sighed with relief.

"That was close. Your companions are saved."

"What do you mean, saved?" asked Daniel, puzzled. "Were they in danger in the forest?"

"By saved, I mean saved. In here," Melia pointed at the transporter, calming down. "Since you were the only one who would ask me questions instead of shooting me on sight, it was hardly a matter of choice..."

"What about the ship?"

Melia shrugged. "Still there, I believe... wherever you just were. As a reminder to never hide from a Lantean on a Lantean ship. Anyway, back to your mission — "

"I understand now," said Daniel. "I found out what they really are..."

"You did? Well, less for me to explain, I guess," smirked Melia, as she took Daniel's hand and made a sign for him to follow her to the window.

After the two reached the window, for a few minute the two just stood in front of the window, looking at the sun drifting under the horizon. Daniel noticed that Melia was breathing heavily. Suddenly, lights turned on in the room behind them, casting a reflection of the room on the window and pulling Melia out of her semi-absent look.

"Fascinating people, aren't they?" she said, turning to Daniel. "After using that life-seeder on Dakara that you so magnificently wasted, many of the remaining Anqueetas went to a submersible city, sort of a proto-Atlantis... Then one day, somebody gets a bright idea that all the disasters so far happened because the rest of his people were more selfish than he was, and if only they were open to his teachings, it would magically solve all of the galaxy's problems!" Melia caught her breath, releasing Daniel's hand. "Well, guess what, he creates an amnesia virus, lets it free, and thinks that when everyone's minds are wiped to a blank slate, he'll come out of hiding and _definitely _teach them good. Except the virus caught him as well." She grinned. "Oops!"

"Those were the ancestors of the Aschen?" asked Daniel.

Melia nodded. "Dangerous way of thinking, really dangerous... And see where it went. I know little of what happened next, actually, my head feels somewhat... hollow. Some of this story was there, and now it's gone. Their planet Lythe, which you knew as P4C-970, was quite a monument to our past. I dug there, metaphorically speaking, when ascended, it was an archeological goldmine, you'd die of happiness." She winked at Daniel. "All gone now, into that black hole, and with it parts of Anqueetas and Aschen history we'll never know now. Nice job breaking it, heroes."

Daniel lowered his eyes, not daring to look directly at Melia, staying fixated on the pristine, unnaturally shiny floor instead. "Don't you know at least something?" he asked defeatedly.

"Well, not know per se, but you can probably imagine — people without memories find themselves stuck for millennia in a strange city, technological marvel it may be, but decidedly utilitarian-looking. And only water around it, they were on the seafloor. You've seen how grey Atlantis is, well, that was even worse. Then power goes out, suddenly the city rises to the surface, but by that time their culture's formed already. And suddenly they have to tend to themselves. See where this is going?"

Daniel scratched his head. "Why are you telling me all this?"

"Aha!" Melia raised her right hand and clicked her fingers. "Spot on. Problem is, I have no idea what to do with the Aschen, myself. We Lanteans have always been bad about this, changing existing things instead of creating from scratch. It's you Earthans who've excelled at that. Sometimes I wonder..." she narrowed her eyes and bit her lower lip, "if only back then, when leaving Atlantis, Elizabeth came with us and we had that bit of Earthan defiance... Perhaps our civilization could survive, and all of history since then would be very different."

"Yes, I heard about that from Morgan," said Daniel, and Melia barely visibly shuddered at the mention of that name. "How you found Earth and its people too primitive to rebuild there, and instead spent the last of your days seeking ascension."

Melia's creepy smile faded, she crossed her legs, and her voice became more melancholic and affectionate. "Ganos did not tell you everything. The main issue was that we left Atlantis in a rush, not thinking ahead and expecting to find ourselves in the relative safety of the Antarctic outpost. Instead we emerged out of the wrong gate, right in the middle of Ra's domain. The Goa'uld had taken over Earth by then — maybe we could wage war, but we lacked knowledge of the enemy, and there would not be much left of us. We were broken, and you could say we... shut ourselves to the conflict around us, philosophied our way out."

"But some of you eventually turned away from ascension," noted Daniel, continuing to look around the room.

"Ascension..." echoed Melia, rubbing her left eye irritatedly. "Come to think of it, so did you. It's a double-edged sword, really. You get the big picture, you have, potentially, the whole universe open to exploration, all that vast knowledge... and nobody to share it with. When everything became possible to us, everything lost significance, and we met a dead end. We looked at mundane matters with disdain, but that was where everything that really mattered was — and they forgot about us too."

She paused. "And while we can't die, we fear to lose ourselves. Without a body, just... as a consciousness, if you don't have a clear sense of self, no idea of what makes you you... eventually you just dissolve in the indistinct choir. Many of us didn't realize it until too late. The Ori fell into this trap even more quickly than us... it wasn't until the Orici that they... or rather, she as the last of them... got a sense of individuality again." Melia's eyes filled with sorrow and regret. "And then when she was fighting Ganos, I descended them, in space, with no means to survive, on the orders of the equally indistinct Others. Perhaps that was the turning point... or maybe you geniuses pushed me over the edge, or both, I'm not sure now."

Melia moved her arms suddenly, as if snapping out of a trance. She looked at Daniel, who se eyes seemed to be fixated on the transporter for some time now. "Speaking of which." she added as her unnatural, somewhat arrogant smile returned. "The rest of you..."

She walked to the transporter and pressed another button. Mitchell, Teal'c, Vala and Deschar materialized in the room, looking disoriented. Having recovered from it, the three members of SG-1 simultaneously pointed their guns at Melia, prompting Daniel to stand between her and his teammates and stretch his arms.

Teal'c slanted his head and raised an eyebrow, but nevertheless lowered his zat. The others followed suit. Melia remained stern, only letting out a disdainful "hmnh".

"Jackson?" inquired Mitchell, looking annoyed more at Daniel than Melia. "What's happening? Whose side is she on?"

"The more important thing to decide is," said Melia, walking out of Jackson's cover, "whose side we are all on, if it's the same side indeed. And if it's the same as that of the rebels, and your... Stargate Command itself. Because you see, I think you might be accidentally unaware of what kind of people you face." With these words, she approached the Aschen captive and told him in a matter-of fact fashion, "Punch me in the belly."

Deschar looked confused by the request, but complied, striking Melia's stomach with his right fist with such force that she fell onto the floor, groaning. Now everyone looked bewildered except Daniel, who was looking at Melia with sympathy and concern.

She struggled to stand up, and asked Deschar weakly, "Now, what do you... think I feel?"

The Aschen blinked and stared at her with blank eyes, reacting as if the very nature of the question was alien to him. "I cannot know," he said.


End file.
